‘The manifesto is what we believe in, that is what matters’

As election day approaches, David Cameron talks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth about Tory principles, where his campaign went wrong, and what might happen if he doesn’t win

To gauge how much trouble David Cameron is in, one need only check his smile. In the days when he enjoyed a seemingly impregnable lead over Labour, he appeared fretful and inactive. But when he meets The Spectator on a train to Southampton, he is wearing a grin. This can only mean one thing: he is, once again, fighting for his political life. The polls are no longer predicting a Tory victory but a hung parliament — and senior Conservatives wonder if their leader will have to do a deal with the Lib Dems. Defeat seems to have been snatched from the jaws of victory.

The television debates, of course, changed everything. A couple of years back, Mr Cameron was asked to name his favourite political joke.